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Sir Paul: teenage crime and terror my priorities
Justin Davenport, Crime Correspondent28 Jan 2009
SIR Paul Stephenson today set out his police manifesto saying the fight against terrorism and youth crime were at the top of his agenda.
The 55-year-old Commissioner said he would allow no let-up in efforts to tackle knife crime and teenage murders and promised to unite the Met behind him.
Challenges
Sir Paul said protecting the capital from terrorism and dealing with knife crime and the number of teenage murders were his priorities.
He said: “We have shown a good deal of grip around knife crime and, while I am far from complacent, that has been bearing some fruit.
“The key issue is keeping communities on board while we are conducting these hard tactics.”
Relationship with City Hall
Responding to claims that he was beholden to the Mayor, Boris Johnson, Sir Paul replied: “Beholden? I just do not recognise that term. Of course I am accountable but I am not beholden.
“It is my job to decide the How' of policing. The priorities are the legitimate right of Government and the police authority and the Mayor, but my job is to decide how we do it.”
Youth crime
Sir Paul pledged to maintain stop-and-search tactics in the street for as long as it takes to crack down on youth crime.
He said: “But we cannot solve this problem on our own. The solution lies in early intervention. It is our problem to make sure that the streets are secure, but it is also our responsibility to work with other agencies to get ahead of the problem.”
Internal strife
Commenting on the internal rows among senior officers that caused turmoil in the Yard under Sir Ian Blair, Sir Paul said: “There has been a good deal of turbulence but, at the same time, there has been a good deal of co-operation.
“You are talking about a small number of people at a senior level. I have been working with a cohesive team now for some time, but we have 53,000 people working for us and it does not mean that we will never have a problem in the future.”
Personal life
Sir Paul said he spent the vast majority of his time in London but he planned to keep on a house he owns in Lancashire, where “you can occasionally see the stars at night”.
He said he enjoyed escaping to his home there when he could. He added that his children were grown up and dotted around the country.
Opinions
Sir Paul said he would not be afraid of speaking out if necessary.
He said: “I have no intention of hiding away. I have opinions on a number of issues and, if I think it's right to speak, I will speak out.”
Race rows
Sir Paul said he wanted to see common sense prevail in the ongoing row with the Black Police Association, which has called for a boycott on recruitment at the Yard.
He said: “I want a co-operative and collaborative relationship with all staff associations and I will be making an attempt to do just that.”
Sir Paul said that the Met had achieved some exciting progress in recruiting ethnic minority police officers. But he added: “There are issues which are still challenging and on which we have to do better and that includes the promotion of ethnic minority officers.”
On terrorism
Sir Paul said the Met had to improve its strategy to be preventative about terrorism.
He said: “We have to make sure that all our communities understand their role in the solution so we can intervene and stop other people going down that dreadful path of radicalisation.”
On Damian Green
Sir Paul refused to be drawn into detail on the controversy surrounding the arrest of Tory MP, Damian Green.
Sir Paul — who authorised the arrest — said the case was now with the Director of Public Prosecutions but admitted: “I am sure there are lessons to be learned.”
He added: “We will want to make sure that we do learn them and get clarity on what are the rules of engagement and how we do things in the future.”
Football
Sir Paul admitted to being a Manchester United supporter at heart but said he had worked on the Hillsborough inquiry soon after the tragedy and had spent a number of months watching videos of the incident.
He said: “I remember seeing hours of video of that hideous, horrific event and I was put off football for a long time and I did not go to a football match for a long time.”
Commenting on the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Sir Paul said: “It's got to be an ambition to close that book. We can never, ever have people being murdered without getting some sort of closure, some sort of result.”
